Value For Money

Guest's review of Love Film www.lovefilm.com

I've (re)signed up for the DVD by post service. Instead of you being able to choose what you want, you're supposed to have a list where you prioritise what you'd like to have sent to you. This appears to be a pretence - what actually happens is they send you whatever is *their* priority. If you're halfway through a TV series, they start you off on another series, then another, and before you know it you've watched the start of several series with no idea of when or if you'll ever see the rest. And if you've listed new releases, forget about it - presumably someone somewhere gets them, but they clearly don't have enough to meet demand.

The service is geared towards people who watch films, and would be most suitable for people who don't actually care what films they're sent. In which case you may just as well watch TV, or play pick and mix down at your nearest charity shop.

The instant service is extremely limited, and again is geared towards films not TV series. The search function on my Sony TV is irritating.

I don't know why I tried this again, after a break of a couple of years. I thought they might have improved, with an eye to giving people what they want, not expecting them to put up with what they're given.

When I gave up last time I put the money aside and bought boxsets. That way you can actually watch what you want, in the order you want - not wait to see what someone or something else has selected for you.

Oh, and after just over a month, I've had more than one occasion where the turnaround has taken much longer than it should have done.

It's a bit of a mug's game, really. If Lovefilm ever decide to put the customer's needs first, I'll try it again. In the meantime I'll go back to buying what I want to see, then selling it on eBay. It's cheaper, more satisfying, and sometimes you can even make a profit.